


this is a public service announcement (this is only a test)

by lovelyflowersinherhair



Series: Table Four [29]
Category: Baby-Sitters Club - Ann M. Martin
Genre: Community: babysitters100, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:53:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22797367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovelyflowersinherhair/pseuds/lovelyflowersinherhair
Summary: “I could ask you the same thing,” he said. “Imagine my surprise when I’m watching a ballgame with my girlfriend and look who’s on the TV? It’s Kristy and her friends. I almost couldn’t believe it was you. I thought, surely Richard Spier hadn’t loosened up his chains on little Mary Anne enough to let her come all the way out to California?”
Series: Table Four [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/14125
Comments: 9
Kudos: 5





	this is a public service announcement (this is only a test)

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place during BSC 14 (BSC in the USA). Inspired by conversations in the fandom-based discord. This is for "ignorant" on the prompt table. Yes the story mentions Jack having a cell phone. This is because in BSC in the USA cell phones are mentioned. It's probably something like this: https://c8.alamy.com/comp/C7TMH6/old-cell-phone-C7TMH6.jpg.

“Are you sure it was him?” Stacey McGill could be heard asking Kristy, and though Jack wished that he hadn’t had to hear such loud gossip, he forced himself and Jeff to remain out of sight, so that he could figure out what the conversation was about.

“Almost positive,” Kristy replied. “Sausalito!” She exclaimed. “Is that near here?”

“That’s just over the Golden Gate Bridge,” Dawn added. “Is that where he’s living?” 

Jeff was giving Jack a confused look, and he matched it, motioning for him to be quiet. He didn’t know what was going on, but he wasn’t sure that he liked the conversation that they’d happened to return to. 

“I think so,” Kristy said.

“Then this is his home team!” Claudia blurted out. 

“Duh,” she said. 

“Let’s find him!” Mary Anne exclaimed. 

“How? There are fifty billion people here,” Stacey pointed out. Claudia asked how many innings were left in the game. “I think two and a half.” 

“Perfect!” Claudia said. “They take forever. We have plenty of time.” 

“No!” Kristy said. “I don’t want to.”   
  


“But, he’s your dad,” Dawn interjected. 

“No,” Kristy corrected. “He was my dad. He left us. Worse, he erased us. I used to write him all the time, I sent him artwork, told him about my games, sent him a tooth I lost. I asked him all sorts of questions, too. I expected him to answer at least some.” Jack heard her sniffle. “What did I get in return? Three postcards, and that sneak visit of his. I had to lie to everyone and almost lost all of my friends because  _ he _ wanted to stay hidden -- and he ditched me again.”

“Kristy,” Mary Anne said. “You have to go. You’ll regret it if you don't.” 

“What are you girls talking about?” Jack said, and he tried his best to appear as if he hadn’t heard every word of the conversation. “I told you, Kristy. We’d go to whatever ballparks we could.” 

“Kristy’s dad is here,” Dawn informed him. “We think that she should go see him, but she’s nervous.” 

In Jack’s opinion, he felt that Kristy was justified in not wanting to see her father, but, at the same time, his baser instincts wanted her to agree to go see the man, mainly to go give him a piece of his mind. The things that he’d heard Kristy say were frankly appalling. Jack might have been an ass, but he would have never expected his child to  _ hide _ the fact that he was in town, both because of the fact that he’d damn well wanted the credit for going to Stoneybrook, and because he knew that it was wrong to put that type of secret on the kids. That was what they were, weren’t they? Even though they thought that they were all grown up?

“It’s not your decision, Dawn,” he told her. “It’s Kristy’s. How did you even know that he was here?” 

Kristy gestured vaguely at the TV screens, and Jack squinted in their direction, cringing when he realized that they were panned to the audience, and that they may at one point  _ had _ been pointing at Kristy’s father, they were now pointed directly at them. 

“Uh--”

“Hey, cool!” Jeff exclaimed, his attention fixed on the screens as well. “Dad! We’re on TV! Do you think Mom can see us?”

“I don’t think your mother is watching the Giants game,” he said. “If she was, that wouldn’t be a problem, anyways.” 

Kristy’s eyes had widened. “The problem is that my dad is here. What if he saw that? I don’t want to see him, Mr. Schafer. Not after the last time.” 

“Maybe he has an explanation,” Mary Anne suggested, and Jack tried not to openly gape. “What? He might!”

“I’d like to hear his ‘explanation’ for what Kristy said happened the last time he came to visit her,” he told her, not caring that that admittance led to everyone realizing that he had been listening in on at least part of the conversation. “And, as the adult here that’s in charge of all of you, I wouldn’t have been happy if you had wandered off  _ alone _ to meet someone who is a virtual stranger to me. Do you even know Kristy’s father, Dawn?” 

Dawn shook her head. “He left when Mary Anne was six,” she informed him. “We hadn’t moved to Stoneybrook then.” 

“What about you, Stacey?” 

“I don’t know Mr. Thomas,” she told him, and she peered over the rims of her sunglasses. “When I was dating Sam, he didn’t like to talk about him much. I think it hurt him when he ran off without a goodbye.” 

Jack sighed. “Look, Mary Anne,” he said. “I know that you mean well. I just don’t see much good in walking into that situation if we don’t have to. What would your father say if he knew that you were wandering off in Candlestick Park in search of Kristy’s dad? I’m not asking that as a joke, or to mock him, I’m genuinely wondering.”

“He wouldn’t like it,” she said after a moment, her voice barely audible, and her gaze focused on the floor beneath the seats. “When he came the last time and made Kristy and me lie to everyone about him being there, Dad got really mad. So did Sharon. I guess they thought I should have broken my promise to Kristy and told them that he was going to be there?” She shrugged. “Maybe we should just go.” 

Kristy scrambled to her feet. “I think that’s a good idea.” 

“Why?” An unfamiliar voice questioned. “Don’t you want to introduce your little pals here to your old man? Thought that was what you wanted the last time I visited you?”

“Dad,” she said. “What are you doing here?” 

“I could ask you the same thing,” he said. “Imagine my surprise when I’m watching a ballgame with my girlfriend and look who’s on the TV? It’s Kristy and her friends. I almost couldn’t believe it was you. I thought, surely Richard Spier hadn’t loosened up his chains on little Mary Anne enough to let her come all the way out to California?”

“Don’t talk about my dad like that,” Mary Anne told him. “He’s not my jailer. I’m allowed to go visit my sister and brother.” 

“Patrick,” the woman beside him said, and Jack watched as she placed his hand on his arm. “I don’t think that goading Kristy’s friends is the way to convince her to spend time with us while she’s visiting.” 

“Oh, right,” he said. “I’m sorry, Mary Anne. I bet your dad’s really loosened up now that he’s with that blonde. No more braids? He even let you cut your hair.” 

“Patrick--”   
  


“Visit with you?” Kristy demanded. “I’m not going anywhere with you. Why would I do that? At least Mr. Schafer doesn’t make me lie to everyone I care about because he’s too ashamed to talk to my mother because Watson’s a millionaire.” 

“Wait,” the woman said. “Patrick, you told me that this was Kristy’s stepfather. When we saw them on the TV.” 

“Well, everyone makes mistakes, Zoey. So what if I confused him with Watson? It’s not like Liz could ever be bothered to care about  _ my _ remarriages.” 

Jack leveled a glare at Jeff, who was delightedly munching on popcorn as the scene unfolded. It was clear that the child was amused. Jack, on the other hand, did not find the situation to be at all funny. If Kristy’s father and his girlfriend, wife, whatever she was, thought that he was going to let her leave his sight for the remainder of the trip, they had another thing coming. The comment about Sharon had been uncalled for as well. Whatever issues  _ they’d _ had over the years, she’d been his wife, and he wasn’t going to let some punk that Kristy’s mother had had the misfortune of marrying run his mouth about her. Or Richard, for that matter. 

“It’s hard to care about someone’s remarriages when they abandon their family,” he pointed out. “I mean, isn’t that what you did? Decide one day that marriage wasn’t worth it and that your wife and your kids could get fucked? Never write your kids or even call? I don’t even have to ask if you paid child support. I know that answer.” He shook his head. “And people say  _ I’m _ a jerk. I mean, I didn’t throw ‘that blonde’ to the wind without a cent to her name and send her and our children across the country and not bother to contact them, and then, when I got bored with my life, occasionally show up to bully my only daughter into keeping my visits secrets from everyone, including involving her best friend because I  _ know _ that the way Mary Anne was brought up meant that she would agree to keep your presence a secret because you were a figure of authority  _ and _ you asked.” He rolled his eyes. “Would you say that that’s accurate?” 

“Kristy understood--”   
  


“What? What did you tell her? She understood that she wanted you around. You’re her father. You took that and you twisted things around on her, right? But that’s okay because the job didn’t work out, or you couldn’t stand that your ex was married to someone who treated her better than you?” 

“Liz always knew that we were on borrowed time,” he said with a scoff. “What did she think was going to happen? We only got married because of Chuck.” 

“His name is Charlie,” Kristy interjected. “God, Patrick, do you have to tell everyone that? Mom isn’t even here and you still can’t pretend that you even sort of like her. You don’t even know what Charlie likes to be called, or what Sam and David Michael have been up to, because you don’t care. You’ve never cared. You use the fact that I wanted you to come back against me every time you come home, and I  _ always _ fall for it. I saw you on the TV,” she told him. “I wasn’t going to go look for you,” she spat. “And, I don’t want to go to Sausalito. I don’t want anything to do with you or your new...whatever she is. It doesn’t matter, because she’s going to be gone the second you get bored, just like the other three.” 

“We wouldn’t have to deal with you wanting to go to Sausalito if you’d just looked for me,” he said. “See? This is why I don’t want people finding out when we talk.” 

“Yeah?” Jack said, and he positioned himself in between Kristy and Patrick. “Is that so? So you were planning on coercing Kristy into going with you two today?” 

“Only because we thought you were her stepfather,” Patrick insisted. “What’s the big deal? Can’t a dad take his daughter? Zoey says I should spend more time with her.” 

“I don’t think that she intended for you to kidnap her!” He exclaimed. “I don’t want you anywhere near her. You think you’re some hot shot? What do you even do?” 

“I’m a stringer for the paper. Sports.” 

“I’m a lawyer,” he said. “I think that I might have the upper hand here,” he pointed out. “I mean, you can see that she doesn’t want to go with you, and I’m sure that you don’t want me calling your old neighbor and asking  _ him _ for his opinion. I mean, seeing as I’m barred out here, and he’s barred in Connecticut.” Jack was bluffing. Sort of. He didn’t even know if his brick of a phone  _ got _ service in the stadium. “I could even call your old old old old lady,” he suggested. “Liz, did you call her? I’m sure she’d be interested to know we’d heard from you. She gave me her number before we left.” 

“You wouldn’t.” 

“That’s where you’re wrong,” he said. “I don’t care about what you think. I care about the fact that you think it’s okay to just force Kristy to drop everything for you whenever you feel like playing at being a parent. Or, in this case, when your girlfriend does.” 

“I think that we should go,” Zoey said to Patrick. “She doesn’t want to come. People are staring.” 

“Fine,” he grumbled. “I told you this was a bad idea.” 


End file.
